


Elle Gets Left Alone With A Kid (And It Goes About As Well As You Expect)

by cheeriosandgalaxybars



Series: The Adventures of Parenthood: Written by Emmett Forrest and Introduction by Elle Woods [2]
Category: Legally Blonde - All Media Types, Legally Blonde - Hach/O'Keefe/Benjamin
Genre: Babies, Elle Woods A+ Parenting, Elle has a freak out, Elle just needs a hug, F/M, Gen, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Paulette saves the day, Slight fluff, Slight ooc Elle but then again she's never been a parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 12:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25849858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheeriosandgalaxybars/pseuds/cheeriosandgalaxybars
Summary: Elle wasn't prepared for parenthood but tried to act like she was whenever Emmett was around (if only for his piece of mind).When he's not around though? Well, that's a different story.
Relationships: Elle Woods & Paulette Bonafonté, Emmett Forrest/Elle Woods
Series: The Adventures of Parenthood: Written by Emmett Forrest and Introduction by Elle Woods [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848169
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	Elle Gets Left Alone With A Kid (And It Goes About As Well As You Expect)

Emily was Elle's happy little accident. She had once been called a mistake, when Elle had announced her pregnancy and Warner decided to make his feelings apparent.

_("How are you gonna tell your kid that she's a_ _mistake_ _?")_

Well, _Warner,_ she wasn't. And she wasn't a mistake, she was an accident. And accidents weren't a bad thing, not like mistakes were.

So, Emily was an accident. A good one too.

But it also meant that Elle was about as mentally prepared for parenthood as a preschooler who had to stand in as a sheep in the nativity because the other kid got sick. And when Elle went in blind then the world better be ready for one stressed out lawyer (as proven by the fact that she had a meltdown on a bench in a bunny costume, which did end up with her starting a friendship with Emily's dad).

And the day that all those bottled emotions about being a mom came out was a Friday. It was a marvelous day, all things considered. It was midsummer, the sun was hot and the air humid but Elle didn't mind. She'd stocked up on soda that was cooling in the fridge so she had something to cool her down with. She also had managed to get Emily entertained for long enough, on a pink play mat of all things.

Problem was, with Emily satisfied and gurgling, Elle no longer had anything to do. She had another few months of maternity leave to stave off. She reasoned that she could watch something but decided against it. She should do something more productive.

She took a look around the apartment. She had gone on a massive cleaning spree the week prior and the place was spotless. There was not a speck of dirt in sight.

Okay, so cleaning would be pointless. She could read. Emmett had bought her a whole set of Jane Austen books. She was also pretty sure he had seen him put _Treasure Island_ on the shelf too.

Yeah, she could settle for some light reading.

So she picked out something and ended up on the couch reading _Emma_ with a keen eye. She had made her way to chapter two when a cry cut through the tranquil silence.

_So, that_ _lasted_ _all of_ _two_ _minutes._

Elle could've made a joke about how she should've been expecting it, but she couldn't.

(It wasn't that she didn't like jokes. Her happy-go-lucky outlook at life had made it easy to laugh at anything, but when life hit you with a _'so you just got_ _married_ _, here, have a kid too'_ there were only two things you could do. And neither of them ended with laughter.)

"Oh, baby," she said softly. Her mom voice was still new, still not firm enough to give it a title. If Emmett were there he'd be fretting and she'd feel all the more confident that she could do this simply because he was there too.

On her own, with just Emily as company, she wasn't so sure of that.

"Oh, my baby. Shush, I'm here, what do you need?"

_A baby can't speak, Elle._ She bites back her own voice. She had to think about it objectively. First, she had fed Emily only an hour ago. She doubted that she'd gotten hungry in that space of time (although, Elle had a large appetite and she'd laugh if Emily had inherited that).

Second, she didn't think she needed a diaper change. There was always a tell all sign that Emily did, and this definitely wasn't it.

And Elle realized all too quickly that she had absolutely no idea what Emily wanted.

_And it terrified her._

She hushed her and reached for the phone. She really needed someone, anyone at this point, to tell her what to do. She needed help so she grabbed her phone and waited. 

One ring. More cries. Two rings. Had Emily gotten louder? Three rings.

_"Hello?"_

"Paulette! She won't stop crying, I don't know what's wrong. She doesn't need feeding, her diaper doesn't need changing." It came out of her in a swirl of emotion and probably sounded like gibberish.

"Can you repeat that again, honey? Just a bit slower," Paulette said. Elle could've cried from how grateful she was that Paulette was there. Her voice was soothing to her, despite being so loud and boisterous.

Elle steadied herself and took a deep breath in. "Emily's crying and I have no idea how to help her. She's not hungry and she doesn't need a diaper change and I just need you."

She could hear the cogs working in Paulette's head from down the phone. "Maybe she wants some sleep, did you put her down for her nap earlier?"

Elle had completely forgotten.

"I didn't. Crap, I didn't put her down for one." She felt like crying. How could she forget something like that? It wasn't even like they'd changed their routine. It had just slipped her mind.

Paulette noticed. "Hey, honey. Don't worry about it. Go put her to sleep now and have an hour to yourself, okay?"

Elle found herself nodding. "Yeah, okay, yeah. I'll go do that. I-- thank you, so much."

"No problem," Paulette laughed, "and look after yourself. No need to get stressed. I'm here whenever you need me."

"Thanks Paulette. I'll speak to you soon." She hung up and sighed down at her baby. Emily's eyes (Emmett's, she reminded herself) were glossy but she could see they were drooping slightly even as she continued screaming.

Elle walked off into the nursery, already trying to sing a lullaby to get Emily off to sleep. It didn't take long, which didn't surprise her, but she stayed at the cot just watching.

The hour to herself Paulette suggested didn't sound bad right about now.

But Elle stood, watching Emily gently breath, her chest going up and down in fluttery motions. And, yeah, Elle wasn't prepared for the crying or motherhood in general, but it was moments like this that made all of the anxiety and stress worth it.

The quiet moments.

(And when Emmett asked about her day later, he didn't need to know about the forgotten nap time and the panic-striken call. All he needed to know was that Jane Austen was a great author and Emily was inclined to agree.)

(She wasn't.)

**Author's Note:**

> Elle 100% has regular freakouts when she's stressed and you can pry that from my cold dead hands. (And this is backed up by the fact that she basically shouted at Emmett to put her out of her misery in 'Chip On My Shoulder').
> 
> href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/marsbarsncornflakes">Come hang with me on Tumblr!


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